Golden Boy's Crossover Appeal in Oscar De La Hoya

With this past weekend’s announcement that Affliction and Golden Boy have teamed up to mesh Mixed Martial Arts and boxing, the first thought that came across the MMA community was that Affliction is back. After having lost Randy Couture back to the UFC, their hopes to put together the biggest fight in MMA history between Couture and Fedor Emelianenko were all but dashed. Now, the likelihood of that fight happening outside of the Octagon appear slim.

With rumors also swirling that the UFC was going to attempt to bring in Emelianenko, combined with the recent postponement of Affliction’s “Day of Reckoning,” thoughts of Affliction Entertainment’s impending doom were legitimate.

There’s no doubt that both Tom Atencio and Oscar De La Hoya have great business sense, but let’s be real about it, De La Hoya brings a massive name into the MMA game. Donald Trump isn’t even in the same league when it comes to promotion. De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions has become the biggest name in boxing and he’s looking to bring that same appeal into MMA.

The initial thought is to combine main event caliber boxing fights with main event caliber MMA fights on the same card. Imagine watching Fedor Emelianenko vs. Andre Arlovski/Josh Barnett and then being treated to a Manny Pacquiao twelve round war against anyone for the same price.

All Affliction/Golden Boy has to do is live up to the hype that they’re creating and they’ll have a chance to compete against the UFC. There’s no doubt that Golden Boy owns boxing in Las Vegas, while the UFC owns MMA. With Affliction now having the proper partners, we’ll see if Affliction steps its game up. Their first chance to do so will be on October 11th … I mean January 17th.